Overtime pay for both police and fire departments is reaching critical levels that are impacting the city's budget.
On Tuesday morning, Dallas city leaders will learn more about a serious problem impacting the city's budget – overtime pay for police and firefighters.
Last year, both departments exceeded overtime budgets by millions of dollars, simply because there is not enough staff to cover the work that needs to be done., the overtime situation is so crucial that last year, the highest-paid DPD officer wasn't the chief. It was a patrol sergeant who brought home over $300,000, more than half of that from overtime work.
In 2023, the city spent $11 million more than budgeted for police overtime and an extra $13 million for the fire department last year. Both departments blame the issue on fewer workers and a steady demand for services.Priority 1 calls have increased 26 percent since 2018 but sworn officers only went up by 2 percent. DPD is projecting 55 million in overtime this fiscal year and to cover that, the city needs to hire an additional 451 officers.
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